This is the project that I have been so excited to share here… but couldn’t, until now!

I was asked by Discover Charlottetown to create an illustrated walking map of Charlottetown. It will be used for their activity guide, as a tear-away walking map and a larger version will also be displayed in 8 kiosks around town (pics to come soon!).

I was completely intimated by this project, and debated about taking it on. Then one day I had a light bulb moment. This is the kind of job I want to be doing, dream of doing! So I put my fears aside and dove in. I hope locals find it depicts Charlotetown well, and that it lures visitors to explore… but mostly I hope my love for this beautiful town shines through.

(Postcard versions of this map and my PEI map will be available for sale soon. I’ll keep you posted!)

I’ve been super busy with an exciting project that I can’t wait to share here. I was hesitant to take it on at first. I worried I wouldn’t be able to do it the justice it deserved. After some soul searching I decided it was just too good an opportunity to pass up… and dove in.

It was an insane amount of work… but it made me realize something. You can’t find out how great you can be if you don’t give yourself the chance. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m so happy with how it turned out. (Here’s a little sneak peek!)

Besides working like crazy I’ve been busy trying to cope with winter. It’s such a challenging time of year. The cold, the darkness… the never ending-ness!

Catherine, my studio mate, Norma Jean Maclean and I submitted a show proposal the to the Guild late last year. We just found out it was accepted and we will have a month long show this summer. We are all so excited!

I’ve been working away on these pieces for it. You may recognize the linens from our great fabric find last year. They are incredibly beautiful, it was so fun to work with them and give them new life. It’s been such a treat to do something completely creative. Now back to work, I have a very fun project waiting for me.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how sudden the end of summer is. One minute my children are tanned and happy and always around, then suddenly there’s a chill in the air and I’m missing them like crazy.

We are officially in summer mode. Although these days are wonderful and full of fun, they pass too quickly. So I’ve decided to be home with the girls. I hope to stop in here often, but don’t expect to see much work… I have a feeling there are going to be mostly pictures like these. 🙂

I’m so excited to finally share with you! This is a project that I have wanted to do for so long, an illustrated map of PEI! I finally got to work on it this Spring, and now I can’t believe I have it printed and in my hot little hands.

This year marks 6 years we’ve lived here. Holy smokes! We still all feel so lucky to call this wonderful place our home. The map is filled with places we love and that are special to me. I also asked friends and locals what they thought should be included. I’m sure I forgot some things… until I start hearing about them, I love how it turned out.

This April marks one year since we moved into our little white barn house. The plan we had when moving into a smaller house was to take the money we saved (and will save on heat etc) to really make this house our own. Here is how we have done that over the past year.

First thing we did after removing window curtains and carpets was knock down a wall between the dining and living room. It was amazing how this changes the whole feel of the house. It is so open and warm.

The second thing we did was have the asbestos tiles removed from the outside of the house. Not as exciting as knocking down walls, but such a huge relief.

One of the things I learned through all this is just how adaptable kids are. They barely made a peep through all the dust, the noise, the men everywhere. Me, on the other hand, not so adaptable. It was a loooong summer.

Then we got a floor! This was a good day.

I really wanted to go with a black stain for the house, but we went with a white wash instead.

I still think the black would have been cuter… I have been promised it will be revisited when the house needs repainting.

We squeezed a second bathroom in where there was a hallway before. It is the first time I have lived with a second bathroom since moving out of my parents’ house, talk about luxury!

I am a slow-taking-off-the-bandaid kind of person. I had made my husband promise me that the kitchen would be next year, but I came home to this one day…

Let’s not think about that. Instead, let’s look at what it looks like today. I love the kitchen. We all do.

We paintined the wall with chalkboard paint. We are constantly changing the drawings, but always have a huge calendar. I don’t know what I would do without it now!

Paul built all the shelves and the cabinets and island are all from Ikea.

My favourite part of the kitchen is this little mud room nook that Paul built. A necessity with 2 kids and all the winter clothes.

We also started building storage in the dining room, there will be much more to come. We also decided to paint the bricks, which were old and crumbling. The bright blue makes me happy.

Speaking of happy, this amazing light makes me super happy. Our dear friend Josh made it for us out of an old washing machine drum.

This is our most recent adventure. While looking for wallpapers online I came across this photo mural and fell.in.love. I have always dreamed of having one… so we took the plunge. The kids think we are crazy, but I LOVE it.

I love the whole house actually. It is quite a small house (1000 sq ft) but we never feel crowded or couped up. It has such a happy warm energy.

So that is the end of the little tour. There is still so much more to do. This summer we tackle the yard and garden. Over the next few years we will work on upstairs and the attic, plus we still need to figure out what to do with the giant barn in the backyard. We flip back and forth on whether to keep and renovate it or tear it down. Needless to say we will be busy for a while!

I just dropped these new paintings off at Cottage Industry here in Charlotettown. They are also available in my Etsy shop. Fishing shacks hanging out and dunes saying hi to each other, what could be more PEI?

At this new house we have lots and lots of leopard slugs. The are HUGE, like hot dogs. They terrify me.

Unlike me, Sosi is quite in love with them. The other day she found some tiny white eggs nestled in the moss in our backyard. We did some googling and found that they are slug eggs, and then we found this. It might be the craziest thing I’ve ever seen… I’m convinced they’re aliens.